Page turning device



Sept. 19, 1961 A. E. JOHNSON ETAL 3,000,124

PAGE TURNING DEVICE Filed April 13, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Sept 19, 71961A. E. JOHNSON ETAL 3,000,124

PAGE TURNING DEVICE Filed April 13, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Sept. 19, 1961A. E. JoHNsoN mm.

PAGE TURNING DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 13, 1959 United StatesPatent ihre Patented Sept. 19., 1961 3,000,124 PAGE TURNING DEVICEArnold E Johnson andLeonardPeretti, Chicago, 1.1L, 2S- signors to ArveyCorporation, Chicago, lll., a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 13,1959, Ser. hlm-806,080 6 Claims. (Cl.40104) This invention relates toimprovements in a/page turning device which may be employed torzdisplayor advertising purposes or for turning sheet music, book pages or thelike.

The device comprising the present invention'is characterized by itssimplicityboth ofmanufacture and of use, and is further characterized inthat it is reliable in operation and can be manufactured mostinexpensively.

There are two basic `f orms'that the presentfinvention may take,although many modications may be made thereon. The two basic -formscomprise, (l) the form wherein three or more Apages are ,to be tnrnedand (2) the lform wheretwo o r lesspages areto bemoved.

In the iirst basic forrnof `the invention, three orrmore pages are movedsequentially in one/.direction inone Cyclo and all of said pages arereturned-to,i nitial p osition in the reverse cycle. In ythe secondbasic Aform two pages are moved sequentially in one direction inAonegcycle and are returned sequentially toinitialposition in the:reverse cycle. Within the framework; o f these :two basiciorms many modoations are contemplated.

The objects, advantages and features of theA present invention will bemore apparent rfrom'theaccompanying drawings and following detaileddescription. Y

In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a device embodying the concepts of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a front elevationalfviewof thedevice shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational Vview-of the deviceon`a reduced scale.

FIGS. 4, 5, 6, 7 Vand 8 Vare perspective views Vof the device on reducedscale showing sequential positions .of the parts during operation.

FIGS. 9, 10, 17,1, 12,13 and 14 'arreperspective views of an embodimentof the invention wherein two :pages are turned sequentially in lbothdirections, said views showing sequential positions ofthe parts.

Referring in detail to the drawings Vand with specic reference to FIGS.l toy 8 inclusive the rst basic form of the invention, hereinbeforereferred to, is illustrated. In this -form of the inventionthree pagesare vto'be moved, but, if desired, the structure maybe sofcontrived as-to move three or more pages and such variation iscontemplated herein.

The reference numeral 1 indicates generally adew'ce embodying theconcepts ofthe present invention. The device 1 comprises. essentially asupport -or'back A2 upon the front Yface of 4which three pages '3 areahingedly mounted; an `actuating mechanism ,4 for turning kthe pages,and a drive mechanism 5 for driving the actuating mechanism 4.

The support or back A2 comprises Aa relatively rigid sheet material,such as, sticardboarha plastic or metal panel or the like, is generallyYrectangular 'in lcontour and is cl'iaracterizedin that the upperedgethereof is provided with two spaced relatively large notches 6 and7. Pro vided within each notch 6 and 7 is a smaller secondary notch 8and 9, respectively. The spacial relationship of the notches relative tothe opposite edges of the back is not of critical importance except tofurnish Aadequate support for the pages on the back, but the spacialrelationship of the notches is of critical importance with respect tothe position of the actuating mechanism 4 and the hinge line of thepages `3, as will be hereinafter more fully described.

For convenience in mounting, the back may Vcarry spaced easel supports10 which may be locked in opera tive position by locking tabs 11, theeasel supports and locking tabs being of conventional and well knownconstruction.

`The pages 3, designated 3a, 3b and 3c are in superimposed position andare hinged together along hinge line 12, the lateral edge portions 13 ofthe pages being secured together and also being secured to the back 2.

The pages 3 are characterized in that they areprovided with cornernotches at their upper right-hand corners, as viewed in FIG. l. The page3a is provided with corner notch 14a; page 3b is provided with cornernotch V1471i, and page 3c is provided with corner notch 14e, the notchesbeing of diierent horizontal depths, as viewed in FIG. l, notch 14abeing of smallest depth, notch 1`4b being of medium depth and notch 14::being of `greatest depth. Thus, when said pages are in the superimposedposition shown in FIG. 1, hereinafter referred to as their initialposition, the respective notches 14a, 14b and 14C will be in steppedposition toward hinge line 12.

It will be'noted that the hinge line 12 is offset -rom'a line centrallyspacing the notches 6 and 7 in back 2, that is, the hinge line is closerto notch 7 than it is to 4notch 6. The reason for this arrangement willbe apparent as the description proceeds.

The actuating mechanism 4 comprises essentially Aa shaft 15 carryingarms 16, 17 and 18. A metal strap 19 is secured to the rear face of theback adiacentits upper edge portion, the strap having a securing portion20 disposed in plane-parallel relationship to the back; 4a lowernormally extending bearing arm 21; an'uppernormally extending bearingarm 22 which terminates in a downwardly extending spacing arm 23 which,in turn, carries an Vupwardly extending intermediate bearing arm 24.Shaft 15 extends through openings in the bearing arms 21, 22 and 2 4 andis rotatably positioned in said arms.

A Vhub 25 is carried at the upper end of shaft 15 and supports theradially extending arms 16, 17 and k18. Arm 16 is longer than arm 17which, in turn, is longer than arm 18. Arm 16 carries a downwardlyextending nger .26; arm 17 Vcarries a downwardly extending nger. 27, andarm 18 carries a downwardly extendingrfinger 28, fingers 26 and 2,77being of substantially equal length and finger 2S being longer thaneither finger 26 `or V27..

It willbe noted Athat the axis of shaft 15 is substantially midwaydisposed between notches 6 and. 7, that is, ksaid, notches, includingsecondary notches 8 .and 9 are s ub.- stantially symmetrically disposedabout shaft 15 as an axis.

During operation of the device `1, shaft 1-5 rotates ina cyclic mannerand although the shaft may be rotated =by any suitable type of primemover, a unidirectional-'elec- 3 tric motor l29 has been foundconvenient, The motor 29 is secured by bolts 30 to the rear face of theback 2 below shaft 15. Formed in unitary fashion with the motor casing,a gear reducer-clutch mechanism casing 31 is carried, the output shaft32 of which carries a gear 33 which meshes with gear 34 carried at thelower end of shaft 15. The gear reducer-clutch mechanism employedrotates shaft 15 in a predetermined direction through a predeterminedangle and then reverses the direction of rotation of the shaft throughthe same angle. The gear reducer-clutch mechanism device is conventionaland per se does not constitute part of the present invention. i yInoperation, specific reference is made to FIGS. 4

Vto 8 inclusive, the pages 3 in this initial position, are in`superimposed position to the left of the hinge line 12 as .shown in FIG.4, and the arm 16 is so positioned as to dispose nger 26 immediatelybehind back 2. Motor 29 is-actuated and shaft 15 turns in a clockwisedirection as viewed in FIG. 4. VFinger 26 then passes through notch 7inback 2 and through corner notches 14e and 14b of pages 3c and 3b andcontacts page 3a between the vertical vdelning edges of notches 14a and14b. As the shaft 15 continues its rotation, page 3a is swung abouthinge line ,12. Before page 3a reaches its 180 position, as shown inFIG. 5, finger 26 has moved relatively outwardly from the vertical edgedeiining corner notch 14a and said Vfinger can thus move rearwardly ofpage 3a and the back 2 through notch `6. This movement is accomplishedby virtue of the offset relationship of shaft 15 with respect to hingeline 12 in the plane of back A2.

At substantially the time when finger 26 passes through notch 6, -nger27 moves through notch 7 in back 2 and through corner notch 14 in page3c and contacts page 3b. Page 3b is thus swung about hinge line 12. Whenpage 3b approaches its 180 position, due to the length of arm 17 and theoifset relationship of shaft 15 and hinge line '.12, as hereinbeforedescribed, finger 27 clears the lateral edge of page 3b and movesrearwardly of the back 2, the linger 27 passing through both cornernotches 14 and 14b and notch 6. Y

When finger 27 moves substantially rearwardly of back 2, nger 28 of arm18 contacts page 3c, as shown best in FIG. 6, and thereupon swings page3c about hinge line 12; However, the length of arm 18 is so related tothe position of shaft 15, the hinge line 12 and the position ofthevertical defining edge of corner notch 14a of page 3a, that it does notswing around said vertical defining edge but would tend to abut page 3a.

However, linger 28 is longer than fingers 26 and 27 and when it movesthrough notch 7, it also moves through notch 7, it also moves throughsecondary notch 9. When page 3c has beenvmoved to its 180 position, asshown in FIG. 7, linger 28 will tend to abut page 3c.

This constitutes one complete forward cycle of the mechanism 4, andbefore linger 28 completes its clockwise travel, as shown in FIG. 7, themechanism reverses the rotation of shaft to commence the reverse cycle.

The device, as so far described, deals with the swinging of three pagesin sequence. If more than three pages are swung, more progressivelylengthened arms are employed similar to arms 16, 17 and 18. Moreover itwill be found that the position of shaft 15 behind the plane of back 2will be changed so that one page will substantially complete its swingbefore the next page commences its swinging.

When all pages have been swung clockwise, as shown in FIG. 7, and shaft15 has reversed its rotation, finger 28 will move counterclockwise infront of back 2 and eventually said finger will pass through secondarynotch 9. Finger 27 will then pass through notch 6 and all of the cornernotches, as will linger 26, and eventually linger 28 will move to theposition shown in FIG. 8. Finger 28 will then contact page 3a and willswing all of said pages simultaneously to their initial position. Withthe pages 4 in the initial position, shown in FIG. 4, linger 28 will liein front of page 3a. This completes the reverse cycle and mechanism 31will again reverse the direction of rotation of shaft `15. After aone-third revolution, the position shown in FIG. 4 will again be assumedby the parts. The cycle and reverse cycle will then repeat themselves.

Referring particularly to FIGS. 9 to 14 inclusive, 35 indicatesgenerally a form of the invention wherein two pages may be turnedsequentially in both the forward cycle and the reverse cyc1e.- Thedevice 35 comprises essentially a back or support 36; a page turningmechanism 37 and pages 38, the latter comprising page 38a and page 38b.

The back or support 36 may comprise a panel of sheet material similar tothe back or panel 2, hereinbefore described and may carry at its rear aconventional easel support 39. The back or panel 36 is characterized inthat two substantially similar notches 40 and 41 are provided adjacentthe upper edge portion of the panel, said notches being spaced from eachother.

The pages 38a`and 38b are hingedly secured to the front face of thepanel and are hingedly secured to each other along hinge line 42. Itwill be noted that the notches areV spaced unequally from vthe hingeline, the notch 40 being further away from said hinge line than is notch41.

The page turning mechanism 37 comprises a shaft 43 which is disposedsubstantially parallel to the hinge line 42, said shaft being rotatablymounted in a shaft support 44. The shaft support 44 is carried by therear portion of panel 36 and is similar in general to the shaft support19, herreinbeforeY described. yIt will be noted that shaft 43 is spacedrearwardly from the rear face of the back or panel, but not spaced asfar rearwardly as is shaft 15, hereinbefore described.

A hub 45 is carried by the upper portion of shaft 43 and two radial arms46 and 47 extend outwardly from the hub in diametrically oppositedirections. Arm 46 is shorter than arm 47 and arm 46 carries adownwardly extending finger 48-and arm 47 carries a similar finger 49 oflength shorter than finger 48. It will be noted that shaft 43 isdisposed substantially centrally between notches 40 and 41, and hence,when shaft 43 is rotated the lingers 48 and 49 may pass through bothnotches 40 and 41. Y

'Ihe pages 38a and 38b areprovided with notches 50 and 51, respectively.The notches 50 and 51 are so spaced relative to hinge line 42 that notch50 registers with notch 40 and notch`51 registers with notch 41 when thepages are disposed apart, as shown best in FIGS. 10 and 13. Notches 50and 51 are narrower in width than notches 40 and 41 and when therespective notches are in registration, as hereinbefore described, notch50 is disposed adjacent an outer marginal edge of notch 40 and notchSlis disposedV adjacent an opposite outer marginal edge of notch 41.Hence, when said notches are in respective registration, al solidportion 5 2 of page 38a overlies a portion of notch 40 anda solidportion 53 of page 38b overlies a portion of notch 41. 4 Y

Shaft 43 may be rotated by any suitable means, but a device such ascontemplated at 5, hereinhefore described, has been found convenient,that is, a device (not shown) which causes the shaft to rotate through acycle; rotate through a reverse cycle and continuously repeat suchoperation. Y

In the operation of the device illustrated and described in conjunctionVwith FIGS. 9 to 14 inclusive, the position of the parts illustrated inFIG. 9 will be considered as the starting'point'of the operation. Atthis position of the parts the shaft 43 will be rotating in a clockwisedirection and both pages 38a and 38b will be positioned on the rightsidey of the hinge' line 42-as viewed in FIG. 9. As the shaft 43rotates`,the iinger`49 passes through notch 41 in panel 36'and alsopasses through notch 51 of page 38b5 Thus, the finger 49 contacts asolidportion of page 38a and swings page 38a about the hinge line 42 ina clockwise direction. As arm 47 and finger 49 approach the 180 positionnger 49, because of the offset relationship of shaft 43 and hinge line42, passes through notch 50 in page 38a and thereafter passes throughnotch 40 in panel 36. The parts will then be in the position illustratedin FIG. 10.

In the position shown in FIG. l0, after finger 49 has passed throughnotches 50 and 40, finger 48 passes through notch 41 in panel 36 andcontacts a solid portion of page 38b'. Finger 48 thereby swings page 38habout the hinge line 42 and both finger 48 and page 38b assume theposition shown in FIG. 1l. The forward cycle of movement of shaft 43 hasbeen completed and the mechanism associated with said shaft reverses therotary movement of said shaft to commence the reverse cycle.

At the initial stage of the reveres cycle finger 48 swings forwardly infront of the panel 36 in a counterclockwise direction as illustrated inFIG. 1l. Eventually finger 48 moves through notch 41 in the panel andnger 49 passes through notch 40 of the panel, notch 50 of page 38a andcontacts a solid portion of page 38b. This is the position of the partsshown in FIG. l2.

As the shaft 43 continues its reverse rotation nger 49 swings page 38hin a counterclockwise direction, as shown best in FIGS. l2 and 13whereby page 38b moves to the position shown in FIG. 13. Because of theoiset relationship of shaft 43 and hinge line 42, as finger 49 movesfrom the front portion of the panel to the rear portion thereof saidnger moves through notch 51 in page 38b and notch 41 in panel 36. Thisis the position shown in FIG. 13.

As the shaft 43 continues its reverse rotation, finger 48 passes throughnotch 40 in panel 46 and contacts a solid portion of page 38a and swingssaid page through an arc of approximately 180 until the parts occupy theposition shown best in FIG. 14. This completes the reverse cycle.

The shaft 43 then repeats its clockwise motion and commences the forwardcycle. In the initial portion of the forward cycle the finger 48 movesforwardly in an arc in front of the panel 36 until the parts assume theposition shown in FIG. 9. rI`hereafter the forward and reverse cyclesare continuously repeated.

When page 38h is swung in the forward cycle, it will be noted thatfinger 48 moves past notch 51 in said page. In order to prevent saidfinger from pasing through said notch, finger 48 is made longer than thevertical dimension of notch 51, and hence, continues to bear upon asolid portion of page 38h and continues to swing said page.Substantially the same arrangement is contemplated in the form of theinvention shown in FIGS. 1 to 8, inclusive. The shorter fingers 26 and27, when they bear upon pages 3a and 3b, respectively, bear upon solidportions of said pages for a sufficient degree of arc to move said pagesto the 180 positions. Because of the horizontal length of corner notch14e finger 28 is made longer than fingers 26 and 27 and finger 28 bearsupon solid portions of page 3c below the horizontal defining edge ofcorner notch 14e.

As has been hereinbefore described, shaft 15 and shaft 43 are offsetrearwardly from the planes of their respective panels. In general as thenumber of pages to be turned, and hence, the number of arms, increase,the distance of disposition of the actuating shaft behind the panelincreases so that the fingers of adjacent arms will assume a positionapproximately in the plane of the panel during rotation of the actuatingshaft.

We claim as our invention:

1. A page turning device comprising a support panel having oppositefaces, a plurality of pages hingedly connected lo the front face of saidpanel and to each other along a hinge line, a rotatable shaft carried bythe rear face of said panel and disposed substantially parallel to andVoset from said hinge line in the direction of the plane of the frontface of the panel, angularly spaced radially extending arms of unequallength carried by said shaft, a finger transversely carried by each arm,said panel being provided with a pair of notches each being disposed asubstantially equal distance on each side of said shaft, said notchesbeing respectively disposed unequal distances on each side of said hingeline whereby all of said fingers may pass through all of said notcheswhen the shaft is rotated, said pages being provided with notches eachbeing disposed unequal distances from both the shaft and the hinge linewhereby when the shaft is rotated certain of said fingers pass throughcertain of said page notches and abut certain of said pages.

2. A page turning device comprising a support panel having oppositefaces, a plurality of pages hingedly connected to the front face of saidpanel and to each other along a hinge line, a rotatable shaft carried bythe rear face of said panel and disposed substantially parallel to andoffset from said hinge line in the direction of the plane of the frontface of the panel, angularly spaced radially extending arms of unequallength carried by sai-:l shaft, a finger transversely carried by eacharm, said panel being provided with a pair of notches each beingdisposed a substantially equal distance on each side of said shaft, saidnotches being respectively disposed unequal distances on each side ofsaid hinge line whereby all of said fingers may pass through all of saidnotches when the shaft is rotated, said pages being provided withnotches each being disposed progressively unequal distances from boththe shaft and the hinge line whereby when the shaft is rotated certainof said fingers pass through certain of said page notches and abutcertain of said pages.

3. A page turning device comprising a support panel having oppositefaces, a plurality of pages more than two hingedly connected to thefront face of said panel and to each other along a hinge line, arotatable shaft carried by the rear face of said panel and disposedsubstantially parallel to and oset from said hinge line in the directionof the plane of the front face of the panel, angularly spaced radiallyextending arms of unequal length corresponding in number to the numberof pages carried by said shaft, a finger transversely carried by eacharm, said panel being provided with a pair of notches each beingdisposed a substantially equal distance on each side of said shaft, saidnotches being respectively disposed unequal distances on each side ofsaid hinge line whereby all of said ngers may pass through all of saidnotches when the shaft is rotated, each of said pages being providedwith a notch and each notch being disposed a progressively unequaldistance from both the shaft and the hinge line when said pages are instacked relationship on one side of said shaft whereby when the shaft isrotated in a predetermined direction said ngers progressively abut saidpages to turn said pages sequentially through an angle of about to areverse stacked position on the other side of said shaft.

4. A device as contemplated in claim 3 wherein reverse rotation of saidshaft causes the finger carried by said shortest arm to abut thelowermost page of said reverse stack to swing all of said pagessimultaneously to the initial stacked position.

5. A page turning device comprising a support panel having oppositefaces, a pair of pages hingedly connected to the front face of saidpanel and to each other along a hinge line, a rotatable shaft carried bythe rear face of said panel and disposed substantially parallel to andoffset from said hinge line in the direction of the plane of the frontface of the panel, a pair of angularly spaced radially extending arms ofunequal length carried by said shaft, a finger transversely carried byeach arm, said panel being provided with a pair of notches each beingdisposed a substantially equal distance on each side of said shaft, saidnotches being respectively disposed un- E equal distances on each sideof said hinge line whereby 6. A device as contemplated in claim 5wherein reverse all of said fingers may pass through all of said notchesrotation of said shaft causes the ngers to sequentially when the shaftis rotated, said pages being provided with abut the pages and swing themthrough about 180 to notches each being disposed unequal distances fromboth initial stacked position. the shaft and the hinge line when saidpages are in stacked Y 5 relationship on one side of said shaft wherebywhen REBI'GDCGS Cited in the file 0f this patent the shaft `is rotatedone of said fingers passes through one UNITED STATES PATENTS of saidpage notches and the other linger abuts the rei 1,543,599 Chester JuneZ3, 1925 mammg page sequentlally to swing said pages through an 1:6991662 Haumann Ian' 22 1929

